5 Advantages of doing MBA Full time vs Part time. MBA Experience in USA ?

I was recently asked by one of our readers in response to the article Should I apply for MS or MBA after B.Tech or B.S, if he should pursue MBA full time or part time. He already has an MS from US University. Based on my experience doing MBA full time and part time, I can list few of the advantages of full time MBA.

MBA Experience at US University:

Studying MBA at US University can be quite an experience if you do it the right way. Going to school for getting an MBA just for the sake of degree or knowledge is not of great value when you step into the real world of business. The value in MBA is all about building your leadership skills, networking, understanding how the system works and honing many communication and personality skills that you would not worry about as a regular MS graduate. The point is, MBA is not a technical degree like MS and just getting expertise in the subject will not suffice.

Part time MBA vs Full time MBA ?

One of the biggest challenges of part time MBA is balancing work and your education. You are trying to juggle two balls : work and education. It can be very hard to balance both and do justice to both, one takes over other and you have to constantly keep up with them. In act of balancing, you have to lose some things. For instance, you may have to miss an awesome conference or training related to work if you have MBA finals that week or you may have to miss on a nice keynote speech by successful MBA alumni if you have work commitment at the same time. There are positives and negatives to both. But, if you really want to have the real MBA Experience, it is wise to chose full time MBA. Check out the advantages below.

5 Advantages of doing MBA full time over Part time MBA :

Student Orgs and Leadership Development : As I mentioned the importance of student orgs in 8 reasons why you should join a Student Org, it is critical for you as a Business Graduate to hone your leadership skills. To be a successful manager, you need to know how to work with or manage people. Student Orgs give you that opportunity. If you are president of a Student Org, you will get that experience. You can be in Student Government and get to know how politics work. To be part of a student org in an executive member role, you need time and commitment. Full time MBA provides you with enough time to focus and increase those skills.More focus on MBA Course related projects : When I was working part time and studying MBA, I had less time to focus on good projects, I could not put enough of my time to apply the course material to something that I really wanted to do. With full time MBA, you have that time to apply the class concepts to real time projects that you want to do. You have time to focus on the real projects that interest you. It can be your own business plan or marketing plan.

Networking : MBA is all about networking. How many people you know and how many contacts you have built. The only way to network with people is to meet more people more times and get to know them on a personal level. With full time MBA, you have time to attend a variety of events in the University and outside of university. The biggest thing is you have time to do all these. You can attend professional organizations meetings or events for orgs like Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organizations, American Accounting Association, American Marketing Association, etc.

Business Plan Competitions & National Conferences: There are a variety of events that happen in the MBA or Business Education world. There are so many national conferences, regional conferences for professional organizations. Apart from the conferences, there are so many competitions related to Business that help foster innovation and help you create your own business plan. The point is not about winning, it is about experience ! If you have to attend these conferences and also participate in Competitions, you need time and you can only have that time if you are full time MBA student

Study Abroad Opportunities: There are numerous opportunities for getting international exposure in MBA. You can take summer classes in different country or sometimes, you can do an internship in another country or there are international study trips. There are a variety of options. Imagine, you working …will your boss let you take 30 days or longer vacation? If you are full time MBA student, you can utilize these good opportunities and get more exposure in the international business arena.

I can write more advantages, but according to me, these 5 advantages stand out and are important to make the decision. If you have a choice to do Full time MBA, personally I would recommend considering that option. It is so much rewarding and you will cherish your MBA experience!

Can you think of any other significant Advantage of Full time MBA over Part time MBA ?

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Comments ( 37 )

Hello! My name is Natasha. I am currently pursuing my second year (4th semester) in Hospitality Studies. Its a 3 years course. I am interested in doing MBA full time. I would like to know whether it would be a good idea to do so? As well as is it better to study MBA abroad or in India itself? I have heard countries like Canada, New Zealand etc have good business schools. Do I need to have work experience to do so? If yes, how many years? Also I would like to know when would be the perfect time to start my CAT/GMAT coaching classes? I would be looking forward to a reply. Thank you!

Natasha, It is always a good idea to have a Masters degree for sure…it is recommended to go for it after working for few years…Regarding schools, it is totally a preference and your affordability. Some schools abroad are quite expensive, some are reasonable…there are outstanding schools like IIMs, ISBs in India too…so, it is a preference. It is best to work for few years and then go for MBA, thats my advice. Read When to do MBA

Hii sir, I am working on Metro project as Automation Engineer but i am always thinking to get a corporate office job bcoz i dont want to travel a lot for engineering and also i like management thing for this sake i am thinking to do Part time MBA so that i can apply for MBA job after complicating MBA, in other companies, Is its possible to jump over from engineering to MBA profession like this.

sir I am the last year student Graduation. ..I am planning to start my own business but also I want to do mba..so can I do mba external. While doing bisiness? Can I get job on the basis of MBA if I felled to success in my business? Plz ans

vishal, Well, you can do MBA part time, while you run your business…Honestly, if you are going to run a business, you may not have time to do MBA. Getting a job after MBA is a totally different thing and depends on many factors…it is up to you how you position yourself for job…the school you go to, etc…I suggest you focus on one thing and do the second one after you have some outcome…

I have total experience of 2 yrs plus and am keen on doing part time mba rather than full time . Is it necessary to have job while we are applying for part time mba colleges in US or is it possible to get enrolled in part time colleges and then search job over there ? If yes , then what visa we need to apply for ?

Isha, Not really, there is no such requirement to have a job for part time MBA, you need to ensure that your visa status is not violated when you are in US…what it means is that, if you are on F1, you will need to be on full time student status…if you are on H4 or any other dependent visa, you can do it part time. I do not think the option you suggested will work, you either need to be full time student or work full time on a visa, unless you are on dependent visa.

Hi, I will be moving to US on H1 sponsored by my company, I wish to pursue executive MBA, on part time basis. 1. Which exams should I take? 2. Which colleges offer executive mba for working professionals? 3. What are the package structures like , post MBA?

Narayana, 1. It totally depends on the school you are applying to. The norm is to have GMAT or GRE. Sometimes, with enough experience, you may get it waived as well. I suggest you check with the schools you plan to apply. 2. You need to do research based on the area you work, just search for schools in the area, there are enough sites on the web that help you get this information. 3. It totally depends on what kind of job you get after MBA, there is no standard as such. Usually, schools have such data indicating the job changes and salary averages of their alumni, so you can check with the schools for more information.

Ram i have compleated my graduation form Mumbai Univercity than after i worked in International BPO but there is no future, hence i m looking for Aviation cource or any post guaduate deploma . plz advice me what should i do.

Ramprakash, We do not really advise on any courses here…All I can suggest is, think about where you see yourself as in 10 years and then work backwards on education front on what will help you get there…then you can choose that degree to help you…

I am doing an mba full time course but i think its waste of money because my college isnt so good the lectures and d faculty isn’t so good so instead of attending college should i work? it will give me an experience.. but after mba the companies might ask how u got an experience? They might think that I’ve done part time course please help need advice what should i do..

Shishir, I am not sure, what college you are studying…but, if you feel that you are in wrong place, you should consider switching colleges…if you feel fundamentally you have not made the right decision on MBA, then you should change the plans…Typically, when you do MBA, you would do internship, that will be your work experience…Also, it is recommended that you do MBA after few years of working…Read When should you do MBA

Hey! I have done B.tech but working with HCL technologies ltd. since 1.6 years in non technical field as an Executive. I’m deciding to go for MBA as here my work is suits to. What would be the eligility criteria for US university and how much would it cost me if I go for full time course? I’m really inspired by the above advantages and set up my mind to do it from US University, please help. My year of birth is 1991, waiting for the result of one back log in B.tech.

At first I started my career by doing hospitality management. Then work ed for 1 year in one of the leading hotel oberoi. ….but now I want to do my mba for higher education knowledge and better salary. ….so should I need to do full time or part time mba. And is there any age barrier to do mba?

Hi! Recently i got employed under financial analyst post of TCS. I have completed my graduation this year(2015) and i wanted to gain experience in practical field. However i want to do MBA after gaining experience of 2 years. So am i eligible to do full time MBA after two years or will it hamper my career? According to you which one is beneficial MBA full time or MBA part time?

Rupal, Yes, you are eligible to do MBA full time after two years. I prefer to do the full time MBA, as you will have more time to focus and do all round activities like being part of various business school clubs, etc. Work experience is critical for admission in top schools and it is valued a lot…in fact, many top schools in US have it as a mandatory requirement.

I have completed my B.Com graduation in full time after completing graduation i m started to search job but i didn’t get any where. after few days by my father influence i get job in one local society as cashier with i complete the M.com Post Graduation in Reputed Karnataka University. Now again i started to search job which suitable for my graduation and also i can get experience. wherever i will go for interview they all say they required M.com Regular Candidate so for this reason from 1 year i didn’t get job anywhere. and also i don’t like to get job by influence. now i am thinking to do MBA course in correspondence. If i do MBA in correspondence then ill get job or not.

Instead of doing a correspondence MBA , develop your English skills which can help you get a good job with a private firm. Full time degree or Part time doesn’t matter if the companies feel that you will make a good employee.

hi i am from mechanical background but bcause of my interest in computers i choose my career in softwares…i have 3 yrs experience in testing…i want to do MS …so pls suggest me which course should be chosen to utilize the 3 years experience in testing.I have options like 1). Information, Network, and Computer Security, M.S 2).Computer Science, M.S.

Hi Saurabh, A few days back I had asked you a question about my husband’s H1B status. He has been working in the US since 2010 and his H1B is valid till Nov 2013.He had just moved to a company ( since Dec 28 2011) after receiving the receipt for his H1B transfer. But he was asked to leave last week ( Jan 9th 2012). The reason they gave was that they had expected him to deal with projects starting from day one ( which he couldnt because he didnt have experience with quite a few technologies that the new company was primarily dealing with. They also told him that he will not be paid for the 2 weeks which he worked,since they had spent money for his H1B transfer. Though he had told the CEO of the company ( at the time of the interview ) that he might not be able to take up a project immediately and he will need sometime to learn the new concepts and start working individually, they said they would let him learn and handle things. But once he joined them they started telling him that there were too many projects hand and he doesnt have the time to learn and perform. You had suggested that we can complain to the DOL that they didnt pay my husband for the 2 weeks time period he worked for them.You also suggested that my husband can try to join the old employer. Going back to the old employer seems to be impossible now since some one else has already joined them. Here are the queries that I have :

1. I have been checking out various websites to know if there is a valid time period that a H1B holder and his dependent can stay in the US if they are in a similar situation to that of ours. But each one seems to have their own opinion. Do you know if there is time span that we can stay here and look out for a new job?

2. Now that my husband doesnt have a pay check from Dec 25th, will there be any problems with our legal status and staying in the country if it takes a month or 2for him to find a new job ? How can he approach anew employer with this gap in pay stubs to do a H1B transfer?

3.Do you think we can approach any consultants to help speed up the job search?

4. Before he joined this company he signed an agreement with them with the general terms and conditions of employment in which they had mentioned that he has to bear the expenses for H1B transfer if he quits within 2 years. Does this mean that we cannot claim for any pay since he worked there for only 14 days?

5. I checked the DOL website for the procedure to lodge a complaint. It is mentioned that their services are free.But I am not sure if we need to do it through a lawyer. If the help of lawyer is essential, then it is almost impossible right now,since we are totally broke. We cannot afford to pay the lawyer. But I really want to do something about this. Finally, can you write an article about points to bear in mind while moving to a new job being on H1B? We did a lot of research about how stable the company is,before my husband moved to this company.But we never knew that someone could just be sent home overnight and denied of pay as well. I would like the other readers of the blog to benefit from our bad experience while it will be a learning experience for us. Looking forward to hear from you. Thank you for your time.

1. To maintain legal status in US, one always need to get paid. As your husband is no longer getting paid, he is not maintaining legal status. Besides, he has been let go from his employer and so is w/o a job as well. There is no set time frame within one which H-1 transfer needs to be filed, but one needs to do ASAP. More time one spends in US w/o job, the more difficult the situation will become. The other options are to move to another visa status or leave US. 2. Yes, as they would ask for the paycheck for this H-1 job. Talk to the employer and ask them to issue the payslip. If they want to settle H-1 costs, then ask them to do them separately outside and not as part of paycheck. Legally H-1 fees need to be paid by the employer and not the employee. 3. You can approach consulting companies for H-1 transfer. But USCIS may not approve it as you have a missing paycheck. They may approve the petition but ask you to go for consular processing. 4. Refer to (2) 5. DOL complaint is free and once you file it, the case officer will assit you in getting all the details.

Hi this is Dilip, I have 2+ year of work experience as Oracle Applications DBA in an MNC. Strongly seeking for master studies in international environment i do have similar query to go with MBA/MS in future? Since i am being involved in database administration tasks would MBA yield better results? Please share your experience and advice… Thanks much, Dilip

I have done L1 to H1 COS in Nov 2010. I would like to go for H1B stamping at Canada. Could you pleas advise which locations are better for fast processing and also please let me know the website direct link for Visa appointment. Much appreciate all your help. Wish you great health and Love.

Hi, I have about 7 years experience in IT Industry (into Software Testing). I am married and have a 2yr old kid, my age is 35. Can you please advise me if it is a good option to do MBA in this age (in any of US/UK/Canada). What could be the risks AND/OR advantages ?

hello, this is vandana. my query is Which is better after completion Master Degree MBA\MS? I hava 2 year experience in software engineer in mnc’s company. if i want to join in master degree how to utilize my 2 year experience.

If u have 2 years software engineer experience, do not go for MBA. Here in the US, there are 2 combinations for getting a job smoothly : 1) MS + 2 years technical experience 2) MBA + 5 years experience. As you can see, u wud be better off doing MS. In both cases, if u want a job without stress/tension, etc. then ur work exp has to be exactly related to ur target US job. For eg, software engineer–> software engineer, qa engineer –> qa engineer. Hope this helps, good luck.

A full time MBA is better, all things being equal. However in this economy and with the number of MBA’s out there, work experience and showing you can manage your time are key skills that employers value more. Especially in the matrixed work environments we work in today.